Active Older Vets More Likely to Fall, But Less Likely to Get Hurt: Study

A study in the Journal of Applied Gerontology determined that physically active U.S. veterans are more likely to fall but less likely to suffer injury, versus inactive older adults who did not serve in the military, according to U.S. News & World Report . The authors analyzed 2006-2015 data from almost 12,000 vets and nearly 37,000 others. Vets had 11 percent more falls that did not result in injuries, but 28 percent fewer falls compared to non-veterans. Although the risk of falling rose more with age for vets than for others, physical activity shielded hem more from non-injury falls. "The inference is that being active puts you at more risk for a fall, but if you are more active/in shape, the fall is more likely to be a minor one and not a serious one resulting in injury," said University of Michigan Professor Geoffrey Hoffman. He explained that such research is vital due to the need to identify a suitable balance between activity and fall risk as people get older — and one possibility is that when a person is active, a fall presents less risk because that person is in better shape, even when being more active marginally elevates the risk of a nonserious fall. "A good trade-off can be made: more activity and independence at the cost of some more minor falls," Hoffman concluded. "It's up to each older individual with the input of family caregivers to weigh those trade-offs."